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About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in jo... (More)

About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in journalism. Though my first love is journalism, food is a close second. I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants to try, building an ever-expanding "to eat" list. As a journalist, I'm always trolling news sources and social media websites with an eye for local food news, from restaurant openings and closings to emerging food trends. When I was a teenager growing up in Menlo Park, I always drove up to the city on weekends with the singular purpose of finding a better meal than I could at home. But in the past year or so, the Peninsula's food culture has been totally transformed, with many new restaurants opening and a continuous stream of San Francisco restaurants coming south to open Peninsula outposts. Don't navigate this food boom hungry and alone! Feed me your tips on new chefs and eats and together we'll share them with the broader community. (Hide)

Opening alert: Gong Cha in Palo Alto

Uploaded: Feb 23, 2015

Downtown Palo Alto got its second milk-tea shop in three months with the opening of Gong Cha in mid-February.

Gong Cha is a massive Taiwanese milk-tea chain with more than 300 locations throughout Asia (Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Macau, Thailand), Australia and now, at 429 Waverley St. in Palo Alto. It's a small, bare-bones space between University Avenue and Lytton Avenue. Customers order at a counter and can enjoy to-go or at the limited seating options inside the shop.

Gong Cha serves up brewed teas and a range of milk teas from oolong to Earl Grey to coffee to brown sugar. Toppings include milk foam, tapioca pearls, coconut jelly, basil seed, herbal jelly and pudding. There's also "milk foam" teas (the "mustache series") that are topped with a layer of foam. Like most milk-tea spots, customers can adjust the amount of ice and sugar levels to their preferences. All teas are brewed fresh every four hours, according to the Gong Cha website.

According to Yelpers, the Palo Alto cafe has started with limited quantities of tea and soft-opening hours of 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Print out this coupon to get a free topping or "upsize" through March 6.)

The Palo Alto outpost is run by the owners of Gong Cha USA, Larry and Michelle Chen. They also oversee locations in Fremont and San Jose.

Gong Cha was founded in Kaoshiung, Taiwan, in 2006, according to the company website. The term "gong cha" references an act of offering "supreme quality teas" as a tribute to the emperor in ancient China.

"With the same philosophy in mind, Gong Cha thrives to provide the excellent quality tea and beverages to its customers," the website reads.

Gong Cha joins another Taiwanese-based milk-tea chain downtown  T4, which opened at 165 University Ave. in November 2014.

Posted by Just wondrin,
a resident of Old Mountain View,
on Feb 24, 2015 at 6:30 am

I see a lot of my friends in the East Bay drinking these tea/tapioca pearl drinks. Seems to be very popular within certain demographics. I've always wondered what the nutritional characteristics are for these drinks wrt fat/sugar/calories.